[Review] Avalon 6 Miner - Winter Mining - Notlist3d - Also FAQ and Help

[kenshirothefist]

I flashed both versions to the corresponding Rpi (SD cards) and neither worked.  

I used Win32DiskImager and SD Formatter

Try connecting the miner to a Linux pc and see if it is detected by cgminer directly, take a look here: https://www.nicehash.com/index.jsp?p=news&id=57

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[supertee]

I asked blockc about 10 pieces and they didn't even respond to me when I asked for a better price (it was when bitmain dropped their prices) and for a local hosting.

So I was forced to buy some S7... Still would buy Avalon, but it must be < USD 1000, every other price doesn't make any sense at all.

[kilo17]

I have just posted a Group Buy for Avalon6 at $1100 each with no minimum order

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1318003.0

[MarkAz]

I flashed both versions to the corresponding Rpi (SD cards) and neither worked.  

I used Win32DiskImager and SD Formatter

Interesting - that's exactly the process I used and it worked fine for me... And the new version of the RPi firmware has the ability to upgrade through the web interface.

Are you sure you flashed it with the correct version for the original Pi?  It's the bcm2708 version - the other version is for the RPi2.

Oh, one other thing worth noting, I've reverted back to the 11/24 MM instead of the 12/25, I was having units randomly go offline and remain offline - but you can run the 11/24 MM on the latest RPi image without any problems.

[philipma1957]

I flashed both versions to the corresponding Rpi (SD cards) and neither worked.  

I used Win32DiskImager and SD Formatter

Interesting - that's exactly the process I used and it worked fine for me... And the new version of the RPi firmware has the ability to upgrade through the web interface.

Are you sure you flashed it with the correct version for the original Pi?  It's the bcm2708 version - the other version is for the RPi2.

Oh, one other thing worth noting, I've reverted back to the 11/24 MM instead of the 12/25, I was having units randomly go offline and remain offline - but you can run the 11/24 MM on the latest RPi image without any problems.

I am using

601510-afa837a0

with the stock sdcard kilo17 sent to me
good results I am downvolting today 11.75 volts  at freq 500 and fan 20

very quiet at these settings
and good eff about .3 watts a gh

[pikachuy]

Anyone know if these 14awg (thicker wires) cables are good enough (2 wires per connector - ground & power) for the Avalon 6? http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Bitmain-Antminer-S1-S3-S5-S7-SP20-Gridseed-6pin-14-AWG-Power-Supply-Cables-/181837555754

Or would it just be safer to get 16awg (not as thick as 14awg) cables that have 6 wires (3 ground & 3 power) per PCI-e connector?

It seems like it will look cleaner when connecting to a server PSU breakout board. Since it's only (14awg) 4 power + 4 ground wires total, compared to (16awg) 12 power + 12 ground wire total connecting to the breakout board on a server PSU.

[Liquid71]

So does undervolting improve efficiency or just reduce noise?

[philipma1957]

So does undervolting improve efficiency or just reduce noise?

Both, but   not a lot on efficiency.


I did 12.7 volts   8000 gh at 0.36 watts a gh

 I did 12.2 volts  7100 gh at 0.31 watts a gh

I did  11.8 volts  6100 gh at 0.30 watts a gh.

[PPOC]

I flashed both versions to the corresponding Rpi (SD cards) and neither worked.  

I used Win32DiskImager and SD Formatter

Interesting - that's exactly the process I used and it worked fine for me... And the new version of the RPi firmware has the ability to upgrade through the web interface.

Are you sure you flashed it with the correct version for the original Pi?  It's the bcm2708 version - the other version is for the RPi2.

Oh, one other thing worth noting, I've reverted back to the 11/24 MM instead of the 12/25, I was having units randomly go offline and remain offline - but you can run the 11/24 MM on the latest RPi image without any problems.

I am using

601510-afa837a0

with the stock sdcard kilo17 sent to me
good results I am downvolting today 11.75 volts  at freq 500 and fan 20

very quiet at these settings
and good eff about .3 watts a gh

Where did you get your Avalon? Zoom hash? I hear there is a group buy for US somewhere to get cost down to 1200? Looking to get 2 of them but Zoomhash is getting 1450 then also need a PI.

[pikachuy]

Where did you get your Avalon? Zoom hash? I hear there is a group buy for US somewhere to get cost down to 1200? Looking to get 2 of them but Zoomhash is getting 1450 then also need a PI.

Here you go for the group buy link https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1318003.0

[alh]

Anyone know if these 14awg (thicker wires) cables are good enough (2 wires per connector - ground & power) for the Avalon 6? http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Bitmain-Antminer-S1-S3-S5-S7-SP20-Gridseed-6pin-14-AWG-Power-Supply-Cables-/181837555754

Or would it just be safer to get 16awg (not as thick as 14awg) cables that have 6 wires (3 ground & 3 power) per PCI-e connector?

It seems like it will look cleaner when connecting to a server PSU breakout board. Since it's only (14awg) 4 power + 4 ground wires total, compared to (16awg) 12 power + 12 ground wire total connecting to the breakout board on a server PSU.

Sort answer: NO

While the 14Ga wire is better, it then funnels all the power into a just ONE 12V pin on the connector. That pin isn't rated for more than about 7-8 Amps, and that assumes it's a nice solid fit. Much better to have all the pins carrying power. I saw one setup that has a single 14Ga wire that  then was split to the 3 pins on the connector. Much better.

[notlist3d]

Anyone know if these 14awg (thicker wires) cables are good enough (2 wires per connector - ground & power) for the Avalon 6? http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Bitmain-Antminer-S1-S3-S5-S7-SP20-Gridseed-6pin-14-AWG-Power-Supply-Cables-/181837555754

Or would it just be safer to get 16awg (not as thick as 14awg) cables that have 6 wires (3 ground & 3 power) per PCI-e connector?

It seems like it will look cleaner when connecting to a server PSU breakout board. Since it's only (14awg) 4 power + 4 ground wires total, compared to (16awg) 12 power + 12 ground wire total connecting to the breakout board on a server PSU.

Sort answer: NO

While the 14Ga wire is better, it then funnels all the power into a just ONE 12V pin on the connector. That pin isn't rated for more than about 7-8 Amps, and that assumes it's a nice solid fit. Much better to have all the pins carrying power. I saw one setup that has a single 14Ga wire that  then was split to the 3 pins on the connector. Much better.

Holy crap I missed the cable was going all through one pin.  That is a horrible idea, I would avoid at all costs.

There are some on the forums that make cables.  I would look on here some Phil has a good show of of Finksy/J4bbrwock gear - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1284563.0

[philipma1957]

Anyone know if these 14awg (thicker wires) cables are good enough (2 wires per connector - ground & power) for the Avalon 6? http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Bitmain-Antminer-S1-S3-S5-S7-SP20-Gridseed-6pin-14-AWG-Power-Supply-Cables-/181837555754

Or would it just be safer to get 16awg (not as thick as 14awg) cables that have 6 wires (3 ground & 3 power) per PCI-e connector?

It seems like it will look cleaner when connecting to a server PSU breakout board. Since it's only (14awg) 4 power + 4 ground wires total, compared to (16awg) 12 power + 12 ground wire total connecting to the breakout board on a server PSU.

Sort answer: NO

While the 14Ga wire is better, it then funnels all the power into a just ONE 12V pin on the connector. That pin isn't rated for more than about 7-8 Amps, and that assumes it's a nice solid fit. Much better to have all the pins carrying power. I saw one setup that has a single 14Ga wire that  then was split to the 3 pins on the connector. Much better.

they are a melting hazard do not use them.

[pikachuy]

6 cables per connector it is. Thanks for the feedback guys.

[PPOC]

Where did you get your Avalon? Zoom hash? I hear there is a group buy for US somewhere to get cost down to 1200? Looking to get 2 of them but Zoomhash is getting 1450 then also need a PI.

Here you go for the group buy link https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1318003.0

Excellent, thanks. I posted my request on that topic and PM'ed PhilipMA also. Thanks Again.

[64dimensions]

Here is some performance data over many days for my 3 A6's:

1) Power supplies: Antec HCP Platinum 1300W Power Supply (runs either 120 or 140 VAC).

2) Antec outputs (DVM): 12.3 to 12.4 volts at load. These are plugged into 240 VAC.

3) Hash rate: Two units 3600+, one unit 3900.

4) Each A6 has it's own RPI.

5) All units have the latest MM and RPI firmware.

6) Each Antec has 4 12V power supply buses. Each PCI connector is hooked up to a different bus.

7) They are all hooked up to kano.is.


The A6's display 0.1 to 0.2 volts lower reading than a DVM power supply reading.

[philipma1957]

Here is some performance data over many days for my 3 A6's:

1) Power supplies: Antec HCP Platinum 1300W Power Supply (runs either 120 or 140 VAC).

2) Antec outputs (DVM): 12.3 to 12.4 volts at load. These are plugged into 240 VAC.

3) Hash rate: Two units 3600+, one unit 3900.

4) Each A6 has it's own RPI.

5) All units have the latest MM and RPI firmware.

6) Each Antec has 4 12V power supply buses. Each PCI connector is hooked up to a different bus.

7) They are all hooked up to kano.is.


The A6's display 0.1 to 0.2 volts lower reading than a DVM power supply reading.

yeah out of my curious mind if you flip the two antec's  does the hash rate flip?

I had this same issue with my two avalon's and two 1200 watt seasonic platinums.

I end up with ½ of each seasonic on each side of the two avalons

  Don't do this if you do it wrong you can fry both psu's and both avalon's

once I did this the avalon hash rates balanced out.

This was why I ended up with the 240 volt server psu's

[64dimensions]

Here is some performance data over many days for my 3 A6's:

1) Power supplies: Antec HCP Platinum 1300W Power Supply (runs either 120 or 140 VAC).

2) Antec outputs (DVM): 12.3 to 12.4 volts at load. These are plugged into 240 VAC.

3) Hash rate: Two units 3600+, one unit 3900.

4) Each A6 has it's own RPI.

5) All units have the latest MM and RPI firmware.

6) Each Antec has 4 12V power supply buses. Each PCI connector is hooked up to a different bus.

7) They are all hooked up to kano.is.


The A6's display 0.1 to 0.2 volts lower reading than a DVM power supply reading.

yeah out of my curious mind if you flip the two antec's  does the hash rate flip?

I had this same issue with my two avalon's and two 1200 watt seasonic platinums.

I end up with ½ of each seasonic on each side of the two avalons

  Don't do this if you do it wrong you can fry both psu's and both avalon's

once I did this the avalon hash rates balanced out.

This was why I ended up with the 240 volt server psu's

Phil,

I tried your suggestion earlier and maybe, there was a 50Ghz difference.

 I also tried a unique feature that the Antec's have called: OC Link™ - Allows 2 HCP Platinums to work in tandem to power the most demanding systems. This cable hooks up to some sort of special com port and allows two  HCP Platinum 1300's to function as one 2600W supply. I didn't see any change in the collective hash rate.

What I did see a change in was giving each A6 there own RPI. I had two chained together and this added about 100 or 200 Ghs to the lowest performing A6 when the low performer was on it's own. This is consistent with the earlier observation in this thread that there is some sort of compromise when operating an A6 chain. I think what the farms probably do is have a standard setup to eval incoming individual A6's and try to match A6's with similar performance characteristics and put the similar one's together on the same chain.

64

[64dimensions]

One more note:

The "hot" A6 doing 3900+ @ 240VAC, drops down to 3800 when the Antec HCP Platinum 1300W is switch to the 120V line.

From the watt meter, this unit draws 1220 watts @3771 Gh/s. 1220/3771 = 0.323 The PF is 0.99.

[nhando]

What do you guys think of this FAN as a spare replacement FAN for the Avalon 6 and S7?  I just swapped it on the S7 and seems a little quieter.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QWB1X3O?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

CFM is at 224.  Any concerns?  Should be ok to use any PWM replacement fan that is almost equivalent correct?